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SDLP deluded and increasingly irrelevant — Murphy

10 November, 2012

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy has said that Alasdair McDonnell’s
address to the SDLP party conference highlights a party as much at odds with
itself as it is with the Northern Executive. He said the SDLP was deluded about
its own position and increasingly politically irrelevant.

Conor Murphy said:

“While Alasdair McDonnell’s speech was long on rhetoric it
highlighted a growing rift within his own party.

“Mr. McDonnell has expressed his desire to get more
representatives onto the Executive while only yesterday his colleague Dolores
Kelly called for the SDLP to go into opposition.

“The SDLP needs to realise that it cannot have its cake and eat
it. It cannot expect to claim credit for all the good work coming out of the
Executive while refusing to do any of the heavy lifting.

“The SDLP voted against the last two budgets, in fact Mr.
McDonnell hadn’t even the decency to come into the chamber to hear the debate.

“The party also, to its eternal discredit, voiced opposition to
the devolution of policing and justice.

“What is clear this weekend is that the SDLP is increasingly
deluded about its own position as it becomes increasingly irrelevant to the
task of bringing about meaningful change in society.”